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Tuesday, 14 May 2013

It seems like I've started my last couple of entries with an apology for not posting more regularly. Hopefully that will change now, but I don't think I'm ever going to get back to the frequency of when I started this humble blog.

I can sit here and simply say real life has been getting in the way, that the demands of work, and my home life have kept me from the game I love, but its actually a little more than that. As I look back, I realise its been almost three weeks since my last post, a situation I'd never intended when I started to scribe. So what has been happening?

Well I think the issue for me, might have been felt by others so I'm curious if your local meta has suffered from the book 4 and M2E phenomena. A month ago I started to notice a change in my local meta, with some becoming burnt out by the book 4 release and others bemoaning what would be next. Rumour threads started to pop up everywhere with rumours of a book 5, dedicated faction books and of course a new edition. For the most part I watched these threads figuring what would be, would be. Wyrd releases a quality product, so what's the issue, surely any of these would be hit.

Then M2E was officially announced and the details started to follow on what the changes would be and how Wyrd intended to re-release such a extensive range. For the record, I neither sit in the camp that's happy or unhappy with the changes, as I said, what will be will be.

I listened and absorbed and for the most part I liked what I heard. I like the concept of simplification, I like the diversity of uses for soulstones, the upgrades concept, in fact there is very little I don't like. I think Wyrd is to be commended for trying the open beta route, I can't think of anyone else that's willing, or has tried such a public method of rules development, in this industry at least. The concept of crowd sourcing information or funding isn't new to other industries, indeed the computer games market has been doing it quite successfully for years.

There was however a personal affect on me and a larger more immediate effect on the local meta.

From a purely selfish standpoint, the changes have left my beginners board entirely up in the air, I know scheme selection and victory point changes will mean I need to revisit my sideboards and completely redo. I just need to press on with the Arcanist board itself and then revisit the outer board when things settle down. I know whole swathes of this blog will need to be rewritten or just won't be relevant, which is a shame, but is the nature of change I suppose.

It's more the overnight effect its had on the local meta that has disappointed me. With the relatively drawn out date for the open beta (one month after announcement), its created a period where no one is buying into the game and interest is waning. There are some in our local meta who are in the beta play test, they squirrel themselves away and in doing so probably halve our number, then the remainder are further divided into those with book 1 masters, who can look forward to an update relatively quickly and those without book one masters who are left with a decision, which really is quite simple - wait, buy or quit.

I know and appreciate that no change is easy, that any change needs careful management and that with any change there are winners and losers. I think the open play test is a fantastic way of balancing and driving adoption, I just need to appreciate its going to be a couple of bumpy months, as people transition and the game settles down.

Hopefully real life will also settle down for me as well, as I really miss my weekly games and I need to get back on the band wagon to get ready for the GT.

I have been busy assembling the plastics and now have a lot of experience in them, so expect some updates in the immediate future.

Who is this Guy?

So this is me, Consultant for one of the Big 4 by day and Malifaux addict by night.
I am the Aspiring Resurrectionist, which is a little odd, because I hate zombie stuff normally.
This is my blog, my tales of the game here in WA and a journal of my attempts as an Aspiring Ressurectionist to take over the world, one zombie at a time!